Just as we were all getting used to the offensive fireworks at AT&T Park, C.J. Wilson and Matt Cain have decided to give us the pitcher?s duel that was promised to us by virtually every pundit for Game One. So, should we be expecting the low scoring affair to continue throughout Game Two? That is a question that only time will answer, but we are more than welcome to speculate. Through three innings, both starters seemed to have their acts together, which begs the question: are Game Two?s pitching protagonists actually their team?s respective ace? I know it sounds like heresy to suggest this, as these two teams rolled out Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum in the previous contest, but the numbers just might prove this theory correct. Also, Thursday?s outcome might force us to come to this very conclusion. Matt Cain tossed zero after zero up onto the scoreboard to further his case. Let?s do a little comparison between The Freak and his lesser known rotation mate and their respective 2010 campaigns. ERA Cain ? 3.14 Lincecum ? 3.43 FIP Cain ? 3.65 Lincecum ? 3.15 K/9 Cain ? 7.13 Lincecum ? 9.79 BB/9 Cain ? 2.46 Lincecum ? 3.22 WHIP Cain ? 1.08 Lincecum ? 1.27 The high strikeout totals are what give Lincecum the advantage in the categories in which he leads, but aside from that, it appears as if Cain was the superior pitcher in 2010. Cain is less a strikeout pitcher and more of a pitch-to-contact type of guy, but his trademark is inducing weak contact. Buster Posey attributed Cain?s Game Two success to his battery mate ?commanding the fastball to both sides of the plate and really just executed his pitches and threw them where he wanted to. He was aggressive and was able to get some quick outs early in the game and keep his pitch count down.? There is a similar dichotomy going on in the Texas rotation as well, as Wilson and Lee have put on quite the show in 2010. Remember, this was Wilson?s first season as a starter and he flourished in the role. However, he did throw almost three times as many innings this year than he has ever thrown in any given season. That is quite an impressive jump in workload. He is not showing any signs of fatigue in Game One, as the only thing he surrendered through six innings was a home run off the bat of Edgar Renteria (yes, that is not a typo) in the fifth inning. We all know the exploits of Cliff Lee over the past few seasons, as it has been drilled into our heads ad nauseum by the national media. Let?s run the same comparison of the two Rangers starters. Since I am using the context of what they mean to the Rangers, I will only utilize Lee?s statistics from after his trade from the Seattle Mariners. ERA Wilson ? 3.35 Lee ? 3.98 FIP Wilson ? 3.56 Lee ? 2.99 K/9 Wilson ? 7.50 Lee ? 7.95 BB/9 Wilson ? 4.10 Lee ? 0.99 WHIP Wilson ? 1.25 Lee ? 1.06 The big difference here is the fact that Wilson walks more than four times the number of batters than Cliff Lee does. While Wilson can be wild, on this night he only walked two batters before he was lifted in the top of the seventh due to a bloody blister that ruptured on the middle finger of his pitching hand. The case is much clearer in this comparison than the previous one; Lee is obviously the better pitcher and, in case you haven?t heard, will be taking his talents to a free agent destination near you this offseason (that is, if you reside near the new Yankee Stadium). Wilson pitched a fantastic game for the Rangers, giving up only three hits and two earned runs in his six plus inning effort. In hindsight, the bloody blister might have been an ominously symbolic moment in the game in that the first transition to the Texas bullpen began unexpectedly and only got worse from there. It just appeared, however, that the universe was on San Francisco?s side on this night. This was particularly evident on a long drive to center field by Ian Kinsler in the top of the fifth that seemed destined to clear the wall and tie the game at one run apiece. Cain admitted as much following the game. ?I thought it was a home run. I saw it hit and I thought it hit something behind the wall?so I went ahead and cashed it in as one run.? Instead, the ball caromed off of the very top of the wall and back into the field of play. Kinsler was eventually stranded in the inning and it wasn?t meant to be. One might go so far as to say that higher powers may be at work, but Bruce Bochy has a different theory. ?The diversity of contribution we have here has really been fun to watch and it?s what it takes. You need 25 guys to get to where you want to go.? San Francisco has certainly had a number of heroes, and it seems to be someone new every night. Something funny happened on the way to concluding this pitcher?s duel and it had everything to do with the Texas bullpen?s inability to find the strike zone. Actually, I shouldn?t lump them all in together, as Darren O?Day was able to retire the first two batters in the eighth before he was removed in favor of Derek Holland. This is when the night got a little dicey. Bringing back memories of Rick Ankiel, Holland was unable to find the strike zone in his first 11 pitches, and 12 of his first 13, having walked all three batters he faced. Rarely does something like this happen to a major league pitcher, but as we know, this was no ordinary night at the ball yard. The results of the inning were the following: four Rangers pitchers, four walks, seven Giants runs, two of which scored via bases loaded walks and one massively comfortable lead going into the ninth inning. After San Francisco had exploded for six runs in the fifth inning of Game One, most critics explained that as quite the anomaly with respect to the Giants? offense. Not only did they one-up themselves in Game Two, they scored more runs in the first two games of a World Series than any other team in history. Go figure. While the San Francisco Giants may not have had the best record in the regular season, they have absolutely dominated their competition from October 6th on. The have gotten a plethora of breaks, fortuitous bounces and even umpiring calls gone their way, but let us not downplay the multitude of contributions that each and every member of this team has provided. Well, almost every member. Eli Whiteside has yet to make an appearance in the entire postseason and it wouldn?t surprise me in the least if he ended a game in the following days with a walk-off blast of his own. With what we?ve seen so far, that doesn?t seem that far-fetched, now does it?